What we learned from liberals at Netroots Nation

DETROIT — At a high-profile gathering of progressives this week, Hillary Clinton was tolerated, Barack Obama was pitied, and Elizabeth Warren was treated like a hero.

The annual liberal confab known as Netroots Nation brought together around 3,000 activists converged for several days of campaign training, a protest or two, and speeches from Warren, Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats.

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And while the 2014 election is just months away, many in this crowd were far more focused on the 2016 race for president, a contest they hope will allow for a showdown between the pro-business and populist strains of the Democratic Party.

Elizabeth Warren stole the show this week with her tough messages to Wall Street and Republicans. The Massachusetts senator insists she’s not running in 2016, but the conference made clear that progressives will hold midterm and presidential candidates to the populist standard she has set.

A case in point: the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, an activist group that touts itself as being from the “Warren wing of the Democratic Party,” is seeking to organize in New Hampshire and Iowa,”to make sure every presidential candidate is asked whether they agree with Warren on key economic populist issues like expanding Social Security benefits, taking on Wall Street, and eliminating student loan debt,” spokeswoman Laura Friedenbach said.

Activists here nearly all called Warren a “fighter” — a label she embraced in her speech Friday — and signaled they want other Democrats to get aggressive with banks, corporations and lobbyists to tackle income inequality. Warren has charged that the economic system is “rigged” in favor of the rich and powerful.

Candidates hoping to harness this crowd’s enthusiasm will need to embrace that pugnacious stance toward big business, not just talk about creating more opportunities for the middle class. Attendees here see Wall Street as a deeply damaging force in American politics and they want the kind of retribution Warren promises.

Netroots attendees hail from the most liberal corners of the Democratic Party. To them Clinton is simply too conservative on fiscal and foreign policy matters. They see the former New York senator as tight with Wall Street, and she doesn’t strike them as willing to fight for working people the way Warren does.

Yet interviews with several attendees suggest it’s not a lost cause for Clinton. If she distances herself from big business, highlights her support for labor — a point that came up several times here, given the big union representation at the conference — and demonstrates she cares about the struggles of ordinary Americans, she could go a long way with this group. What it really comes down to, activists say, is a shift in what Clinton emphasizes.

“She would have to have Elizabeth Warren’s message,” said Cindy Pettibone, an activist from the Washington, D.C., area. “Against big banks and corporations, for the little guy, restoring the middle class and unions.”

Clinton, who is touring the country to promote her new memoir about her time as secretary of state, appears to have already started adjusting for this. She told PBS’s Charlie Rose this week that, if she runs, it would be on a “very specific campaign that talks about the changes you want to make in order to tackle growth, which is the handmaiden of inequality.”

Of course, if Clinton goes too far in embracing Warren’s tough-on-Wall Street message, it could hurt her fundraising and dampen her appeal among conservative Democrats.

Another hopeful sign for the likely 2016 Democratic candidate: At a party Friday night hosted by Ready for Hillary — the grassroots-focused organization urging her to run — some people showed up wearing “Elizabeth Warren for President” stickers, to sip drinks, snack on pizza and listen to some Motown music.